


Want U Back

by Pretty_fly_slushies



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blindness, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Minor Character Death, Post-Prison, Reunion 3.0
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 12:55:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28671120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pretty_fly_slushies/pseuds/Pretty_fly_slushies
Summary: Another Reunion 3.0 fic (because there isn't enough of them)!Freshly out of prison and back in Emmerdale, Robert has a pile of unopened letters containing everything that he's missed over the past eight years. Losses, arrivals, changes and constants. There's a long road ahead of him but he's determined to get back everything he lost, starting with his ex husband.
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Comments: 19
Kudos: 134





	1. I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Liv's 25th and she's in for a shock.

**February 16th 2027**

Liv stumbled back with a flinch as her bottle of vodka slipped out of her grasp and smashed into smithereens, the last remaining drops spilling out onto the driveway.

“Shit.” She scurried to try and pick up the shards of glass and winced when one got wedged under her nail, blood oozing out before a tear could roll down her cheek. Twisting her neck, she glimpsed back at the thudding base and beams of coloured lights coming from the village hall where her friends and family were drinking and dancing the night away to celebrate her twenty fifth in style. Well, less style and more like Dingle fashion.

She hugged herself with a sob, desperately trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her finger as her backless dress and stilettos failed to fight the cold off. Fortunately, her house keys jingled away in her clutch bag. She was all set to return to the warmth of Mill Cottage when something stopped her, or rather some _one_. Her expression darkened and she squinted at the little pocket of yellow light shining out one of the upstairs windows, blocked every few seconds by a tall, pacing silhouette. Liv’s breathing became ragged as she crouched to grab the neck of the broken vodka bottle and pointed the jagged edges towards the house. Putting one foot in front of the other, she staggered into the Mill and up to the first flat with all her limbs shaking.

Liv’s brows knitted together when everything looked normal. The door was still locked, not a finger print on it. All the bizarre statues and trinkets were still dotted around, nothing out of place. For a second, Liv wondered if she had imagined everything until she jumped when there came a series of creaks from the floorboards above her head. _Footsteps._ Footsteps that were loud but not loud enough to drown out the sound of her wavering, irregular breaths. With a slight delay, her weapon gravitated towards the figure coming down the staircase, smelling strongly of coconut and apples. Liv’s nose twitched and her heart stilled.

“Robert?”

“Happy birthday.” 

“I- you- you’re back?” Liv stuttered, stunned and speechless. She didn’t even notice the piece of glass bottle slide out of her hand.

…..

Half an hour had passed and Liv was really struggling to process it. 

“You’re back.”

“And you’re drunk,” Robert observed, spread out on the sofa as if the last eight years of his life had been trimmed and cut out.

“I’m drunk because it’s my twenty-fifth, not because my life’s gone belly up and I want to get off my face,” Liv spat with a glare that wouldn’t budge. “So you can stop pretending you’re all concerned.”

“I care,” Robert said, tilting his head in sympathy. Liv just scoffed and arched a brow.

“Yeah? Well, don’t bother. You lost the right to care when you cut us all out of your life like we were nothing to you.”

“Liv-”

“What are you even doing here?” she interrupted, her words flying out like venom. “You don’t belong here anymore. We’ve all moved on. Do the same, yeah?”

“I don’t want that,” Robert said, standing up and towering over Liv.

“Because it’s always about what you want, innit?” Liv slurred.

“If you’ll just give me a chance to explain-”

“You know, everything went to shit when you left. Aaron proper went off the rails, he fell to bits. He had to stay with Debbie in Scotland for a while just to get his head straight. And whilst all that was happening, Vic shacked up with Lee’s brother and they’ve been playing happy families with Wendy ever since.”

Robert suddenly felt a wave of anger. He thought he knew his sister, he thought she had enough of a spine to pave her own way through the world without falling back on the family who had pulled apart her life thread by thread, harassing her as they mustered all of their energy into calling her a liar.

“Hurts, doesn’t it? Being forgotten,” Liv sneered. Robert hoped it was the alcohol talking. “You went to prison to protect Vic from the people she now calls family. I mean, ouch. And as for Aaron, well, you’re as good as dead to him. Just ask his husband.”

Liv could hear Robert’s heart breaking all over again and she almost felt sorry for him. _Almost._

“Yeah, you heard. So just do one, Robert, you’re not wanted here anymore.”

.....

Robert sat on the stairs up to the pirate ship in the middle of the village and the wood chips under the soles of his shoes felt foreign. He hadn’t set foot on a surface that wasn’t concrete in just over eight years and he'd never thought he would take a patch of grass for granted.

_”You’re too fast for me, mate!” Robert panted as he chased after Seb, covering every square foot of the playground._

_“It’s those new shoes,” Aaron joked, “they must be in super-sonic mode.”_

_Robert stopped to take a breather, leaning on the swings as smiled at his son who jumped and leaped with his cheeks bright red and the hood of his yellow Parka bobbing behind him in the wind. Seb’s little legs wobbled and his balance went askew every now and then and Robert couldn’t quite believe how much Seb had changed in just a few short months._

_Seb had always been a bit behind in the motor department but neither Robert or Rebecca thought it was any cause for concern until the boy’s first birthday which he spent staring at his birthday candles with big, beautiful eyes rather than crawling up the walls, pulling himself up on the furniture with sticky hands and staining everything with icing. After that, the decision was briskly made to take their son to a health specialist._

_Seb got the all clear and apparently some babies just liked to take their time in certain areas. Robert was fine with that._

Robert wondered how fast Seb could run now. Had he ever won any medals on sports day? Or was he, like his dad, never picked for a single team? Robert huffed out a laugh. The latter seemed more likely.

Robert was distracted by a burst of cackles and screeches coming from inside the village hall that brought him back to reality. He could hear a stampede of high heels click-clacking their way towards the exit and he wasted no time in scarpering in the opposite direction. Of course he didn’t go far, there was a tiny lobe of curiosity that ticked in the back of his mind like a metronome. He ended up loitering behind the back of the Woolpack, trying to identify the voices that he could hear without getting spotted. His heart pounded as he listened to a snippet of a conversation between two voices he knew very well.

“I’m telling you, Vic, I walked into the flat and he was just sat there! I told him to get lost but I- I wasn’t thinking straight and now he could be anywhere-”

“Calm down. You came straight here so he couldn’t have gone far. We’ll find him, yeah?” came Vic’s mothering voice. 

Robert almost shed tears of relief; her voice was exactly how he remembered it. It was one of the voices that he'd played on a loop in his memory as he lay awake at night in his cell. Every day he'd prayed that it was playing back to him correctly and it hadn’t altered in pitch or tone over time like some sort of warped game of Chinese Whispers.

Vic and Liv darted off in different directions, presumably to look for him. He should’ve put them out of their misery but one face and two voices was all it took to zap the energy out of him. And it wasn’t even the soul he wanted to connect with again the most; _Aaron._ Even being in the same room as Aaron was a thought that made his knees buckle and he wasn’t ready in any way, shape or form. Maybe tomorrow, through. Definitely tomorrow.

There was a noise. Something scuttering, Robert thought. And then there was a clank. And a chime. And then there was somebody in a grey suit who was holding two bags full of rubbish and looking at Robert like he had grown a second head. 

“I know you,” he said, _Al_ said. "Aaron's ex."

At this point Robert was just utterly confused. “I’m not the only one whose life took a turn then?”

“I’m doing Chas a favour, she had somewhere to be.” Al loaded the bin bags into the dumpster with a sweat. He studied Robert for a split second and his brow hung low. “Fourteen years went by in the blink of an eye,” he said, monotonous as ever.

“Fourteen changed to ten a long time ago,” Robert said after a beat. Al didn't really care and that suited Robert just fine.

He inched away until he was back in plain sight of the villagers. He gawped at some familiar faces that chattered and cackled all the way down Main Street, each sipping alcohol out of a plastic party cup. He waited until the village hall was empty and the party goers had closed their front doors behind them after returning home. As each bedroom light was switched off down the street, Robert tiptoed towards the double doors leading into the hall. 

With his hand lingering over the shiny handle and his heart racing, he was about to open it when he heard a shout.

"Robert!"

His neck snapped to the sound of his sister's voice calling his name in the wind. Her hair was in a bun but her fair baby hairs managed to dance in the gales and the hem of her dress flapped against the goosebumps on her knees. She studied him with her ridiculously round eyes before she ran towards him as fast as she could, crashing into him and breaking down. Her tears landed on Robert's exposed neck and made him shiver.

“Miss me?” Robert choked out. Vic let out a noise that was somewhere between a sob and a laugh as she clung onto her brother in case he wasn’t there when she opened her eyes. She inhaled his scent, her nose smashed against his chest, listening to his heartbeat in the quiet of the night. 

Robert gently pried her off him. “What’s got into you, eh?”

“I’m just glad to have you back. Legally, I hope?” Vic said, poking his chest.

“What do you take me for?” Robert smiled. 

Victoria gave him another bone crushing hug, knocking the wind out of him.

…..

Aaron scratched his beard as the front door clicked behind him, he locked it and pocketed the key with a deep inhale. He stood at the entrance of his pitch black flat, his pupils glazed over as he fought to see anything that wasn’t the same blurred outlines. 

“Liv?” he called out. Nothing. He made his way upstairs, his sweaty palm squeaking on the handrail until he made it to the top. He tapped on her bedroom door twice, waited for a split second and he was about to twist the knob when it flew open from the other side, creating a draft that soared across his face. He smelt the alcohol that was stuck to her skin like glue and he heard the hoarse cries that escaped past her lips, making alarm bells ring at the back of his head.

Her warm breath shuddered. “He’s back, Aaron. Robert’s back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New year, new venture (after I finish Finding Home or it will never get finished). This is a little something I wrote a while ago and I'm turning it into a small multi-chapter. I'd love to know what you think of it so far :)
> 
> katy xo


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robert has some explaining to do.

Victoria’s scraggy, dishevelled, ex-con of a brother was there in the flesh, curled up on her sofa in that same dreaded navy blue suit he was sent down in all those years ago. It was baggy on him now, crumpled up around his ankles as he slept. His face had aged twenty years since she’d last seen him, with wrinkles around his cheeks, bags under his eyes and creases on his forehead; all complete with long strands of graying hair and a shadow of scratchy stubble that had replaced his normal clean-shaven appearance.

“Mum?”

Harry leered in the doorway, wearing a contrary look as he studied the stranger snoring in his front room. “Who’s that?”

“You should be in bed,” Vic told her son, struggling to tear her eyes away from Robert. Harry was a stubborn little thing, however, so he shook his head and narrowed his eyes at his uncle.

“Who’s he? Where’s Luke?”

Vic patted her thigh and Harry tiptoed over, climbing onto her lap with an elongated yawn. “Luke’s out with Nana Wendy, remember?” Harry nodded. “And, well, you know how you would always ask me why you don’t have a proper big family like all your mates?” Harry nodded again. “And I would tell you about your granddad Jack and your nana Dianne.”

“They’re both in heaven,” Harry relayed, his chapped lips curling down in the corner.

“What I never told ya was that I also have two crazy, stupid brothers. And that one right there,” -Vic nodded to Robert- ”is you Uncle Robert. He’s just been released from prison.”

…..

By some miracle, Harry had gone back to bed without putting up much of a fight and Robert was still flat out on the sofa. There was a bed with his name on it in Vic’s spare room but she couldn’t bring herself to wake Robert up. He seemed to be getting the best night’s sleep he’d had in a long time, even cramped up on Vic’s battered sofa that had seen better days. 

The small rucksack Robert had with him kept catching the corner of Vic’s eye and the twinkling zip enticed her in. The bag didn’t consist of much; a bottle of shower gel, a few pairs of boxers and a thick pile of letters that were all held together by string, some of them dating right back to his first year inside. A good chunk of them were in Vic’s writing, a small number of them in Rebecca’s writing and the rest in Aaron’s scrawl. None of them had been opened.

Vic shuffled through them until she found the one she was looking for. The tear stains were still visible and it made her hairs stand on end. She put in on the arm of the sofa and slid the rest back into Robert’s bag. Her knees clicked as she stood up and she was about to pop the kettle on when there arose a racket at her front door - pounding fists that ricocheted around her house. Vic glanced through the kitchen hatch to find that Robert hadn’t even stirred, she supposed he must’ve gotten used to sleeping through any kind of commotion. 

“Vic!”

Aaron’s voice rang through Vic’s ears and she jogged to swing the door open, quickly leading him down the garden path until they stood under the flood of orange light coming from the café.

“He’s in there then?” Aaron concluded. His cane swung from his wrist, hitting the fence post every now and then. Vic’s head was on fire with questions, a burning need for some answers, so she couldn’t imagine what was running through Aaron’s.

“Yeah. Yeah, he is,” she said eventually, like she couldn’t believe it herself. Aaron immediately turned towards the cottage but Vic put a hand on his chest. “He’s sleeping, though. And he really needs the rest. Why don’t you come back in the morning? He’ll still be here.” 

Aaron’s shoulders sagged. Vic was right, even if it rumbled him. He hadn’t seen Robert’s face in over eight years and he didn’t know if he could go a second longer without seeing him again when he was _right there_. The man he’d once loved to the ends of the earth and shared a whole lifetime with was back in the village and that thought took his breath away, his lungs having to work twice as hard. It wouldn’t sink in until Aaron saw him with his own eyes. Well, what he could see of him, anyway. And that wasn’t a whole lot, even in proper daylight. “Is- is he okay?” he asked, his voice cracking.

“He’s not said much. But I wouldn’t be okay if I was in his shoes, would you?”

Aaron had forgotten every word he’d ever learnt and the morning was still yet to come.

…..

**_Robert Sugden_ **

**_HMP Isle of Wight_ **

**_Newport_ **

**_Isle of Wight_ **

**_May 3rd 2026_ **

**_Dear Robert,_ **

**_If you read just one letter of mine then please let it be this one. If you, by some miracle, open this then please, for the love of God, get in touch. You don’t have to allow visisting access but the least you can do is try to write back, it won’t kill you._ **

**_I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve written to you so many times but this time it’s so much harder. Dianne passed away last month. She was on a Mediterranean cruise when she went peacefully in her sleep. It was so unexpected. She wasn’t ill, she wasn’t in any pain and she had nothing wrong with her. At least she was happy, that’s all I can ask for._ **

**_I’ve tried my best to track down Andy but I’ve had no luck. It just pains me to know that he might never find out that his stepmother is no longer with us. That’s why I need you to read this, you need to know how short life is. You can’t spend the next seven years isolated and alone._ **

**_Robert, you’re the only family I’ve got left. You’re the only one I can talk to to try and get through this. I don’t even care that you’re in prison, I could still see your face and hear your voice but you’re so bloody stubborn. I really need you, now more than ever._ **

**_Please, Robert, reach out. I’ll always be here._ **

**_All my love,_ **

**_Victoria X_ **

“I can’t believe it. Dianne’s...”

Vic rubbed her brother’s back as he absorbed the words off the page, the envelope finally torn open and discarded someone on the sofa.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice wobbling. His thumb stroked the side of the letter as he stared into the abyss. With the flick of a switch, his face screwed up and he crumpled the paper into a ball before slamming it into the sofa cushion as he folded in on himself and he took it all in, salty tears trailing down his cheeks and over his lips. Vic kept him close, holding him tightly as he let it all out.

“I told the prison, why didn’t they tell you?” Vic asked, using the same nurturing voice she used with Harry when he was feeling down.

Robert sat up straight, the rough skin of his hands making his eyes red as he wiped away the tears. “I think they said something about family news and I just- I didn’t want to hear it. Told them I wasn’t interested. Every time I heard your name or Aaron’s name or- or anyone’s, it made everything so much harder. God, I’m so stupid.”

“Robert, you had to get through it in your own way. That’s not stupid,” Vic said. It didn’t make the sting in Robert’s heart hurt any less.

Harry came through, a tray of coffee’s shaking in his unsteady hands as he put it down on the coffee table. Vic thanked him with a hug and kiss before he had to leave to catch his bus. He'd been trying every trick in the book, determined not to go to school. Vic could hardly blame him, however, as he was dying to know all about his mysterious uncle who’d shown up in the middle of the night. He only left with Robert’s promise of a movie night together.

As Harry dragged himself out the door, he left it open and Vic was about to yell after him - something about the rising cost of the electricity bill - when Aaron showed up in the hall with his jaw on the floor.

…..

There was a ripple on the surface of Aaron’s tea as his nerves went into overdrive. “When did you get out?”

“Yesterday.”

_Yesterday._

Aaron swallowed thickly, reaching out to grasp where the edge of the table was before placing his mug there. His eyes bled, stung and worked harder than they had in years. Straining, he still couldn’t make out anything beyond the outline of Robert’s figure and the muted colour of his clothes (Luke’s, though, not Robert’s. Robert had made it very clear how he'd felt about that, demanding to go shopping for his own when he was up to it). Robert was skinnier, Aaron thought, and his hair had grown wild, curling and winding around his neck. Aaron couldn’t decipher much more than that. He couldn’t see the freckles on Robert’s face or the permanent lines etched on his forehead. He couldn’t even see the pure ecstasy spreading all over Robert’s face.

“How come you’re out so early?” Aaron had forgotten Vic was even in the room. Of course she was, it was her house after all.

“Because I never killed Lee,” Robert said, like it was as simple as that. Vic tensed up, giving Aaron a wide-eyed look that wasn’t met.

“Then who did?” Aaron questioned.

Robert took a deep breath. “I had this mate inside. James. He’d figured out why I was in there. I’d kept stump for a while but he got it out of me. Did me a favour, actually. People stop treating you like shit in there when they learn that the guy you murdered was a rapist.”

Vic frowned. “You just said you didn't kill him.”

“No, that honour goes to this bloke Chris Sheers. He was Lee’s doctor and James’ ex-best mate. Turns out, he topped him. Lee, that is. Lee and nearly twenty other patients over the years. He only chose people who were hanging on by a thread so no one got suspicious. No one had a clue except James. He told me that he could pull some strings, get Chris sent down so I'd be let off the hook. It worked, eventually. I got a new sentence, ten years for GBH with intent. I got released early on parole and ended up here.”

All of this and Aaron never had a clue, not even when the police showed up just as he was starting to get use to life without Robert, asking him about his relationship with Lee as if they were friends or something. It seems Robert got lucky after all, perhaps. "What was the catch?" 

Robert blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You can't tell me this James bloke stuck his neck out on the line for you and wanted nothing in return."

"He didn't think it was fair," Robert shrugged. "Chris had turned on him years ago and he wanted to get his own back."

Victoria’s phone buzzed from inside her pocket, coming to life. She checked it and gave a heaving sigh. 

"They need me at the HOP this morning," she informed. "But I finish at three, Rob, so we can collect Harry from school then I'll take ya shopping to stop all your moaning."

With a chirpy smile, Vic unhooked her coat from it's peg and left with one last crushing hug off her big brother. The atmosphere lingering between Aaron and Robert was… stiff. Not a sound was muttered for what felt like a decade. But in reality? About thirty seconds.

Robert stifled a laugh, his cup of tea now empty. "We were married and now we can't think of a thing to say to each other."

"Sorry," Aaron mumbled, clearing his throat. "It's just a lot to take in."

"Believe me, you’re not the only one who's had a lot to take in," Robert said. His eyes were drawn to Aaron with a force that hadn't weakened one bit since it was last used. His face fell, turning sombre as he remembered the news he'd received not even an hour ago. His fingers absentmindedly reached out to find the scrunched up letter and his fingers rested on it. "Dianne’s dead. Vic’s all lovey-dovey with her rapist's brother. You're married. I know I can't complain but-"

Aaron's brow had shot up with a snort. "Married? That’s news to me."

Robert's heart began to rise again from the pit it had fallen into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the comments on the first chapter, it means the world. Be sure to follow me on tumblr @robron1609 for updates and previews <3
> 
> Katy xo


End file.
